The present invention broadly relates to the field of document creation and editing and more particularly relates to the field the collaborative composition and approval of a document.
Document creation and editing form the heart of personal productivity in computing. The word processor, the core component of the personal productivity office suite, has enjoyed decades of widespread use with little change in basic functionality only to be complimented by companion components including the spreadsheet application and presentation application. Collaborative computing when merged with document creation and editing functionality forms a powerful automated analog to traditional paper movement in a corporate environment. In this regard, within a collaborative computing environment, a document can be created by one collaborator, edited by multiple other collaborators and approved by all before publication. The process of document creation, editing and approval in a collaborative computing environment has been referred to as a document workflow.
Automating document workflow can be a complex process, requiring substantial logic either embedded within a document editor as in the case of a review and comment function, or more likely, included as part of a document workflow system. Robust document workflow systems provide for a document approval process in which designated collaborators must approve a document prior to publication. Defining the document approval process can be heavyweight in nature and can require a specification not only of those collaborators whose approval is required, but also the timing as to when review and approval of the different collaborators is required.